Romania 2011 World Down Syndrome Day

Romania has released on 21 March 2011 a stamp marking World Down Syndrome Day. Down Syndrome is a genetic disorder that occurs in approximately 1 out of 800 live births. First described by British physician John Langdon Down in 1866, it is the leading cause of cognitive impairment. On 21st of March 2006, Down Syndrome Association organized, in Singapore, the first actions meant to draw attention to the appropriate understanding of this condition. Simultaneously, similar events occurred in Geneva. Later, March 21st was declared the World Down Syndrome Day. This date is symbolic as Down Syndrome is also known as Trisomy 21 - Down Syndrome babies have 3 copies of chromosome 21.

Switzerland 2011 International Year of Chemistry - Vitamin C

The Swiss Post features the molecular structure of Vitamin C on their stamp celebrating the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). Vitamin C is probably the best-known vitamin and is regarded as the health remedy par excellence. The story of its discovery dates back to the middle ages, when sailors on long sea voyages of discovery inadvertently succumbed to scurvy because nobody understood the problem of vitamin C deficiency. Though the link between scurvy and the consumption of citrus fruits and fresh vegetables was understood as early as the 16th century, it was only two hundred years later that the
diet of sailors was supplemented with sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) and lemon or lime juice, thus curbing scurvy outbreaks.

In 1933, Tadeus Reichstein, a Polish-born chemist working at the Zurich Federal Institute of Technology, managed to produce synthetic ascorbic acid in bulk cheaply, based on a combined chemical and bacterial fermentation process. That same year, Reichstein sold his patent for synthetic vitamin C to Hoffmann-La Roche, the Basel pharmaceutical company, which sold the synthetic Vitamin C under the brand name Redoxon.

Albert Szent-Györgyi was awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize in Medicine for isolating hexuronic acid as the anti-scorbutic (anti-scurvy) factor, which was later identified as Vitamin C or ascorbic acid. The shared 1937 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Walter Norman Haworth for his work in the identification and synthesis of Vitamin C, Haworth's award was celebrated by another stamp, the 10p stamp in Great Britain 1977 issue celebrating the 100th anniversary of Royal Institute of Chemistry.

Indonesia 2011 International Year of Chemistry

Indonesia released a set of 2 stamps on 23 March 2011 to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). The first stamp features the chemical structure of a xanthone derivative, Artoindonesianin C, derived from the plant Artocarpus teysmanii (a relative of the jackfruit tree), the second stamp (not shown) features the IYC logo. Many forms of artoindonesianins are extracted from the Artocarpus family of plants, for example, Artoindonesianin A & B are derived from Artocarpus chempeden, that is the chempedak tree. Some of these artoindonesianins have been found to be cytotoxic, so they are candidate compounds for anti-cancer research.

Poland 2011 Cystic Fibrosis Week

28 February is Rare Disease Day in Poland, and for this day in 2011, a stamp was released marking Cystic Fibrosis Week. The stamp features the face of a boy, half in colour, the other half in grey scale, probably representing good health and poor health. The first day postmark features the double helical represenation of DNA structure, and the left side of the cover is illustrated with the human chromosome 7 with the region q31.2 marked in red - location of the CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) gene. Mutation of this gene leads to the development of cystic fibrosis.

Centenary of the award of Nobel Price for Chemistry to Marie Curie

The United Nations has declared 2011 to be the International Year of Chemistry, this year also marks the centenary of the award of the Nobel Price for Chemistry to Marie Curie, for her discoveries related to radium. The most important medical consequence of Marie's discoveries, is that a small amount of radium could destroy human tissue, thus opening the way to the search to treat cancers. La Poste of France issued the stamp marking this important year on 28 January 2011, featuring Marie Curie in her laboratory. The postal authorities of many countries will be issuing stamps commemorating the International Year of Chemistry, and many of them will feature Marie Curie, so far Sri Lanka did it on 30th January, and Spain on 7th February. I supposed as the year goes, we shall see more.

Mexico 2010 CONACyT 40th Anniversary

This Mexico stamp, released on 9 December 2010, celebrates the 40th anniversary of CONACyT, or Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, National Council of Science and Technology in English. The design includes an attempt at an artistic representation of the DNA double helical structure, and an indistinct molecule.

Israel 2011 International Year of Chemistry - The Ribosome & The Ubiquitin

The Israel Post released 2 stamps featuring protein structures on 4 January 2011 to ring in 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry. The 4.20-shekel stamp features the ubiquitin, a protein destructor and the 6.10-shekel stamp features the Ribosome, a protein constructor.

For the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko of the Israel Institute of Technology, and Irwin Rose of the University of California, Irvine, USA, were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2004. Ubiquitin serves as a molecular label that fastens itself to the protein destined to be destroyed; the proteins marked for death are fed to the proteasome for disassembly. Before the protein is squeezed into the proteasome for destruction, the ubiquitin label is removed for re-use.

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009 was awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of Cambridge, UK, Thomas A. Steitz of Yale University in the USA, and Ada E. Yonath of Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, for their work on the molecular 3D structure of the ribosome, through X-ray crystallography, and showing how it functions at the atomic level, manufacturing proteins giving life to all living organisms.